3 Great Games With Easy DRM

There are many great games to buy these days, but there is often a problem - DRM. For those of us who don't feel like fooling with activation limits and DRM software, it can be hard to find good games. But never fear. There are many great games left which don't feature restrictive DRM.

Galactic Civilizations II (And Expansions)

Stardock has been at the fore-front of arguing for lax DRM on games for a few years now, and has consistently backed that up by putting very little DRM on their own games. For the most part, retail versions of Stardock's games only require that you have a CD-key, while versions bought off their online store, Impulse, simply require that you log in under your e-mail address. There are no install limits, there are no programs that need to run in the background, and their games can be installed on as many PC as you desire.

That is all well in good, but the real kicker is that Stardock's most famous game, Galactic Civlizations II, is easily one of the best turn-based strategy games ever, ranking up with the likes of Masters of Orion 2 and the Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. When it first came out several years ago, Galactic Civilizations II included one of the best economic models ever to be seen in a turn-based game, as well as AI that was capable of challenging even experienced players. There were a few weaknesses, like the lack of unique research trees for each race, but that and numerous other features have been added during the course of the game's two expansions, Dark Avatar and Twilight of the Arnor . Fully upgraded, Galatic Civilizations II is simply the best turn-based game to come out in the past five years.

Galactic Civilizations II also includes a wonderful starship editor. Forget Spore - if you want to create your own spaceships, this is the game to buy. The starship editor has no limits on size and requires the player to abide by no rules or restrictions. If you'd like to recreate the starship Enterprise, or a Star Destroyer, then go right ahead. The tools are readily available. For those of you with a big imagination, this feature can easily double the play-time of the game.